The Republican Form of Capitalism Is An Epic Failure

[berni_mccoy]

Just like the Soviet Form of Socialism Failed.

We are going through our own form of economic revolution. The Principles of the Democratic Party have been correct all along. After more than 20 years of Republican Economy, we are now experiencing the end of it. And I wonder if we'll ever look back.

I can't explain it any better than the Votemaster at http://www.electoral-vote.com :

Dow-Jones Average Is Down 1500 Points This Month
The Dow Jones average dropped another 189 points yesterday. It is off over 1500 points during October alone. Here is a chart of the Dow for the past 12 months.

The goverment is now toying with the idea of giving the banks even more money in return for (preferred) stock. In most counries this would be called nationalizing the banks. Who would have thought that the Bush/Cheney administration would go down in history as bigger socialists than FDR? The plan would be voluntary, but it still undercuts a basic tenet the Republican Party has held sacred for a century: the government should leave the private sector to manage itself. It will be interesting to see how the candidates respond to this new wrinkle.

The Fed gave A.I.G. another $38 billion yesterday, on top of the $85 billion they already gave it. People are hopping mad (and the $440,000 party the A.I.G. executives threw for themselves didn't help much). John McCain's strategy of talking about William Ayers 24/7 has apparently backfired and he is pulling the ads. While the base was eating it up, they were already in the bag. Independents didn't like it one bit. They want to hear how McCain is going to fix the economy, not who Obama knew 20 years ago. McCain doesn't want to talk about the economy, of course, since what he really and truly has believed his whole life is the free markets work best and the government should stay out of them. But as people watch their 401(k) plans and their pensions and their future go up in smoke, this is a real tough sell. He'd better think of something different to say in the next 50 nanoseconds or he is going to be--in the immortal words of George H.W. Bush--in deep doodoo.

I wouldn't say just Bush is in deep doodoo... it's the entire foundation of the Republican Party that's about to fall into a mile-deep sinkhole.

This may very well be the end of the Republican Party, just as the economic collapse of the Soviet Union was the end of that political structure.

The Votemaster goes on to show how Obama has a solid transition plan while McCain does not and he predicts that Democrats will win nearly all close Congressional races as a result. We may very well be looking at 60 seats in the Senate.

[PassingFair]

1. Greed will never die...

call it what you will.

[BeyondGeography]

2. And a Democratic President did basically nothing to get in the way, either

Market mania has consumed both parties since 1980. President Obama will do well to make political spine and a bias toward government a requirement for all cabinet officials and appointees. We are where we are because we bought into unfettered capitalism. Obama's already being labelled a scoialist by the opposition, so he might as well assert himself unconditionally.

[berni_mccoy]

3. I don't agree with your assessment of Clinton's Presidency. Clinton was very responsible financially

He created a surplus,
shored up Social Security
and paid down the debt.

He created social work programs that business didn't appreciate like FMLA and increased environmental protections, nearly all of which have been undone by the Republicans.

[BeyondGeography]

5. And he gave Wall Street everything it wanted in the way of deregulation

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/business/economy/09greenspan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

[berni_mccoy]

6. Your original comment: "A Democratic President Did Nothing" -- that's just not true

And your article discusses nothing about Clinton's policies... it mentions how Democrats in a GOP controlled Congress tried to push for more regulation.

[BeyondGeography]

7. And how these same Dems. were frustrated by Rubin and Summers

and how Phil Gramm wrote deregulatory legislation that Bill Clitnon signed. It's all there.

This is why some of us supported Obama from the start. So nice that we don't have to defend this sad record right now and can stay on the offensive.

[berni_mccoy]

8. I agree with you. I'm not saying there weren't bad decisions

I'm just saying that Clinton didn't do 'nothing'...

And yes, I have much hope that Obama will restore the necessary safegaurds and regulations that have been removed over the past 20 years.

[BeyondGeography]

9. I'm hopeful as well

I have some measure of sympathy for the Clinton Administration as the politics of deregulation (combined with a strong economy) would have made it hard for them to stand in the way of Wall Street. However, with Bill in the picture, any repudiation of the prior model would have been complicated by his massive need to be proven right about everything he ever did.

With Obama, we have a fresh start. We need one.

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. Capitalism in general is doomed to fail

it's predicated on a fallacious assumption: an ever-rising curve of perpetual economic growth. In a world where the resources required for industry to fuel that economic growth are limited, capitalism sooner or later hits a wall, and reaches a point of countinually diminished returns and economic contraction; it's an inevitability. The only real question is whether it comes sooner rather than later.